Kid-friendly Chopped "Salada do Brasil Recipe - Sticky Fingers Cooking
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Recipe: Chopped "Salada do Brasil

Recipe: Chopped "Salada do Brasil

Chopped "Salada do Brasil

by Dylan Sabuco
Photo by nadianb/Shutterstock.com
prep time
10 minutes
cook time
makes
4-6 servings

Fun Food Story

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Chopped "Salada do Brasil

Crisp greens meet a delightful medley of chopped green olives, onion, and tomato in this Brazilian-inspired salad. But the dressing takes center stage—a bold and zesty fusion of apple cider vinegar, a pinch of black pepper, and a touch of mild chili powder.

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Chef Erin, Food-Geek-in-Chief

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

  • chop :

    to cut something into small, rough pieces using a blade.

  • stir :

    to mix together two or more ingredients with a spoon or spatula, usually in a circle pattern, or figure eight, or in whatever direction you like!

  • whisk :

    to beat or stir ingredients vigorously with a fork or whisk to mix, blend, or incorporate air.

Equipment Checklist

  • Cutting board
  • Kid-safe knife
  • Dry measuring cups
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Small bowl or liquid measuring cup
  • Measuring spoons
  • Whisk
  • Wooden spoon
scale
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7X

Ingredients

Chopped "Salada do Brasil

  • 2 C chopped romaine, iceberg lettuce, or spinach
  • 1 medium Roma tomato **(for NIGHTSHADE/TOMATO ALLERGY sub 1/4 C chopped mushrooms)**
  • 1 T apple cider vinegar
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 pinch ground black pepper
  • 1 pinch mild chili powder **(for NIGHTSHADE ALLERGY sub ground cumin)**
  • 1/4 C green olives
  • 1/2 large yellow onion

Food Allergen Substitutions

Chopped "Salada do Brasil

  • Nightshade: For 1 medium Roma tomato, substitute 1/4 C chopped mushrooms. Substitute ground cumin for mild chili powder.

Instructions

Chopped "Salada do Brasil

1.
chop + whisk

Start by having your students chop 2 cups of romaine, iceberg lettuce, or spinach for the base of the salad. Then, roughly chop 1/4 cup green olives, 1/2 yellow onion, and 1 Roma tomato. Place all the chopped veggies into a large mixing bowl.

2.
stir + munch

Time to make the salad dressing. In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, measure 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 pinch of salt, 1 pinch of black pepper, and 1 pinch of mild chili powder. Whisk thoroughly to create the salad dressing. Pour the dressing over the chopped veggies and stir. Once everything is coated in the dressing, serve the salad alongside an entrée, like Savory Tomato "Empadão do Brasil" Pies!

Surprise Ingredient: Olives!

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Photo by ancoay/Shutterstock.com

Hi! I'm Olive!

"Did you know olives are fruit? We're called drupes (sounds like droops) or stone fruit, because we have a pit inside, just like apricots, cherries, peaches, and plums. You can't eat us right off the olive tree, though. We have to be cured first so we're soft and not bitter. Try us by ourselves or in a salad, a taco, or on pizza!"  

  • Olives are one of the most essential foods to the people of Greece, and they always have been. In ancient Grecian times, wheat, olive oil, and wine were the three most widely consumed foods, forming the basis of Greek people's diets. 
  • Greeks believed that the goddess Athena gave the first olive tree to Athens before it eventually spread to the rest of Greece. Olives were used in many recipes. Olives were also crushed, and their oil was used for lamps. Olive oil was also used as a beauty product. Women rubbed olive oil into their skin to make it soft and shiny, and it was added to charcoal and other natural colors to make eyeshadow and eyeliner.
  • Olives grow on trees! An olive tree can live anywhere from 300 to 600 years.
  • The oldest olive tree is located in Crete. It is 2,000 to 4,000 years old and is still producing olives!
  • The olive tree branch has become a symbol of peace, and two olive branches are pictured on the United Nations flag. 
  • Olives are not edible straight from the tree. They're too bitter. They must be cured first, which is how we buy them from stores. Cured means treated with a substance to preserve and change the taste and texture. Curing can cause green olives to become black from oxidation. 
  • What color are olives? They can be many colors: black, green, purple, brown, and even pink!
  • There are many different varieties and sizes of olives. The largest olive is called the Donkey Olive. The smallest olive is called the Bullet Olive. 
  • About 90 percent of olives are pressed to make olive oil, and 10 percent become table olives. 
  • Olives have lots of healthy fat in them, and these fats are fantastic for your heart and brain! They also contain 25 percent of our daily value of vitamin E.

What is a Chopped Salad?

Photo by ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock.com
  • Many countries have their version of a chopped salad. They may have varying ingredients, but the one thing they have in common is bite-sized, chopped pieces of lettuce, vegetables, or both. The salads are often dressed with a vinaigrette.
  • Some countries and regions where you can find chopped salads are the Mediterranean, Mexico, Lebanon, Italy, Israel, Iran, Brazil, Armenia, and the United States.
  • A Cobb salad is a type of chopped salad named after the owner of the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant in California. It includes chopped salad greens, tomatoes, bacon, chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, blue cheese, and chives with a wine vinaigrette.

Let's Learn About Brazil!

Photo by IrenaV/Shutterstock.com (Rio de Janeiro with Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugarloaf Mountain)
  • The Federative Republic of Brazil is the largest country in South America. It is in the central-eastern part of the continent on the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil consists of 26 states and a federal district. 
  • Brazil shares borders with every other South American country except Chile and Ecuador. To its north are Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. It borders Colombia in the northwest. Uruguay is south of Brazil, and Argentina and Paraguay are southwest. Bolivia and Peru are on its western border.
  • Portugal colonized this part of South America in 1500. Brazil declared its independence from Portugal in 1822, becoming official in 1825. Sept 7
  • The government is a federal presidential constitutional republic with a president, vice president, legislature, and supreme court. The country's currency is the Brazilian "real" (pronounced HAY-al). 
  • Brazil's total area is 3,287,956 square miles and spans four time zones. Worldwide, it is the fifth largest country. Brazil's population is seventh in the world, with over 200 million people. The capital of Brazil is Brasília, and the largest city is São Paulo.
  • The official and national language is Portuguese. More people speak Portuguese in Brazil than in any other country. Numerous other languages exist in Brazil, including over 200 indigenous languages.
  • Because of its size, Brazil's geography is very diverse. It has plains, highlands, hills, mountains, plateaus, lakes, rivers, and rainforests. About 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil, along with almost two-thirds of the Amazon River. The country has 4,655 miles of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. 
  • The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland covering between 54,000 and 81,000 square miles. Iguaçu Falls, on the border of Argentina, is taller than Niagara Falls in the United States and wider than Victoria Falls in Southern Africa.
  • The country is rich in natural resources, and its economy is fueled by agriculture, mining (metal ore and gems), and automotive, food, and other industries. It is the world's largest producer of coffee, oranges, soy, and sugarcane. 
  • Brazil is the most biodiverse country in the world, with over 70 percent of all listed plants and animal species. The jaguar is the national animal. The piranha is a well-known fish found in the Amazon River.
  • Brazilian culture has been influenced by the cultures and traditions of its indigenous people, its Portuguese colonists, other European immigrants, Africans, and more recent Japanese, Arab, and Jewish immigrants.  
  • Brazilian music styles from Rio de Janeiro, like the samba and the bossa nova, are recognized in many other parts of the world. Different forms of the samba are heard during Brazilian Carnival, the most popular holiday in Brazil, celebrated on the Friday before Ash Wednesday and Lent. 
  • "Feijoada" (black bean and pork stew) is considered the national dish. Coffee is the national beverage.

What's It Like to Be a Kid in Brazil?

  • Because Brazil is below the equator, kids get out of school for summer vacation in early December and return in early February. 
  • The sports kids may participate in are soccer, volleyball, Brazilian martial arts, and swimming. Other games include "queimada," (a dodgeball game) and "bola de gude" (marbles).
  • There are several parks and beaches in Brazil for families to enjoy together. Other fun activities include riding the little red train up Corcovado Mountain to the 125-foot Christ the Redeemer statue or taking a cable car up to iconic Sugarloaf Mountain, a cone-shaped mountain, rounded at the top, like a refined loaf of sugar. Kids can visit sea turtles at a beach or over 500 bird species at the Parque das Aves near Iguaçu Falls. 
  • Kids may have a sandwich or French bread and butter for breakfast with chocolate milk or "pingado," a drink of steamed milk with a splash of coffee. They may eat rice with beans and meat and a salad for lunch. 
  • Favorite snacks in Brazil include "pão-de-queijo" (cheese bread or bun) and "coxinha" (deep-fried dough with shredded chicken filling).
  • Popular sweets and desserts are "brigadeiros" (chocolate fudge balls), "paçoca" (peanut candy), and "bolo de rolo" (roll cake with guava jam).

That's Berry Funny

Why should you never float a boat in a salad?  

Because it might hit an iceberg!

Lettuce Joke Around

A lot of people don't know about Rudolph the Reindeer's wife.

However, she's mentioned in the song about him: "Olive the other reindeer."

Lettuce Joke Around

What did the policeman say to the suspect? 

You have the right to romaine silent.

THYME for a Laugh

Two olives are sitting on a table.

Olive 1 rolls to the end of the table and falls off.

Olive 2 yells from the top of the table, "Are you okay?"

Olive 1 replies, "I’m a little bit sore, but olive (I'll live)."

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